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Genito-urinary Services
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors, nurses and other NHS staff were employed in genito-urinary medicine in (a) 1970, (b) 1980, (c) 1990 and (d) 1999; and how much their employment cost in each of these years. [126799]
Mr. Denham: Information about the number of medical staff employed in genito-urinary medicine in 1970, 1980, 1990 and 1999 is shown in the table. Specialty specific information about numbers of nurses and other National Health Service staff and employment costs is not collected centrally.
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| Year | Number |
|---|---|
| 1970(1) | 240 |
| 1980 | 360 |
| 1990 | 580 |
| 1999 | 780 |
(1) 1970 figures are for England and Wales--it is not possible to separate only medical staff working in England
Note:
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10
Source:
Department of Health medical and dental workforce census
GPs
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the average cost was of one hour of a GP's working time, excluding seniority payments but including supporting staff and premises, in (a) 1970, (b) 1980, (c) 1990 and (d) 1999 at constant prices; [126829]
- (2) what the average cost of a GP was, excluding seniority payments but including supporting staff and premises, in (a) 1970, (b) 1980, (c) 1990 and (d) 1999. [126749]
Mr. Denham: The latest available data are for the financial year 1998-99. Expenditure on General Medical Services and Personal Medical Services per general practitioner unrestricted principle or equivalent was as follows:
| Year | £ |
|---|---|
| 1970-71 | 7,808 |
| 1980-81 | 28,608 |
| 1990-91 | 61,232 |
| 1998-99 | 101,191 |
Expenditure at 1998-99 prices (based on gross domestic product and GDP deflators) was as follows:
| Year | £ |
|---|---|
| 1970-71 | 68,710 |
| 1980-81 | 67,035 |
| 1990-91 | 78,868 |
| 1998-99 | 101,191 |
Expenditure per GP in 1998-99 excluding seniority payments was £99,540. Seniority payments are not centrally identifiable for the previous years. Information on GPs' working time is not available for the years in question.
District Nurses
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the district nurse service in (a) 1970, (b) 1980, (c) 1990 and (d) 1999; and how many were employed in each of those years. [126827]
Mr. Denham: Numbers of district nurses employed in the service are shown in the table. The cost of the district nurse service in this series of years cannot be disaggregated from general expenditure on community nursing and medicine.
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| Whole time equivalent | Numbers (headcount) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | (2)-- | (2)-- |
| 1980(3) | 12,861 | (2)-- |
| 1990 | 10,390 | 11,650 |
| 1999 | 11,380 | 14,260 |
(2) Not available
(3) Includes staff with and without district training and staff assisting district nursing. A new classification of the non-medical workforce was introduced in 1995. Information based on this classification is not directly comparable with earlier years.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten.
2. Due to rounding totals may not equal the sum of component parts.
3. Figures exclude learners and agency staff.
Source:
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.
Health Visitors
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the health visitor service in (a) 1970, (b) 1980, (c) 1990 and (d) 1999 and how many people were employed in the service in each of those years. [126831]
Mr. Denham: Numbers of health visitors employed in the service are shown in the table. The cost of the health visitor service in this series of years cannot be disaggregated from general expenditure on community nursing and medicine.
| Whole-time equivalent | Numbers (headcount) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1970(4) | 5,910 | (5)-- |
| 1980 | 8,760 | (5)-- |
| 1990 | 10,580 | 12,200 |
| 1999 | 10,160 | 12,800 |
(4) England and Wales figure
(5) Not available
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10
2. Figures exclude learners and agency staff
3. A new classification of the non-medical workforce was introduced in 1995. Information based on this classification is not directly comparable with earlier years.
Source:
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census
Dental Services
Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to increase the number of NHS dentists (a) nationally and (b) in the North-West; and if he will make a statement. [127069]
Ms Stuart: There are currently 17,821 dentists working in the General Dental Services in England and 2,261 in the north west region, more than ever before. Problems have arisen because more dentists are devoting more time to private dental work, working part-time and there are some areas where dentists seem reluctant to practice. We have accepted the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body
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recommendation for a commitment scheme rewarding loyalty to the National Health Service. The scheme will cost £17 million per annum for England. The personal dental services pilot scheme, including dental access centres, is encouraging health authorities to be locally responsive and contribute to make NHS dentistry more widely available. Investing in dentistry saw £10 million in grants given to NHS dentists in return for promises of up to 900,000 new NHS registrations. Further measures will be contained in our dental strategy, due to be published this summer.
- Note:
- Expenditure is taken from health authority annual accounts which are prepared on a resource basis and therefore differ from cash allocations in each year. (These are not the total amounts spent on healthcare. General Dental Services expenditure is separately accounted for and cannot be analysed by health authority over the three years). Since 1997-98 drugs expenditure has been mainly accounted for by the Prescription Pricing Authority. For consistency figures have been reduced by the amount of non-cash limited prescribing expenditure accounted for by the health authority in each year.
Parkinson's Disease
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the guidance given to medical practitioners by the NICE with regard to the treatment of Parkinson's Disease. [127297]
Mr. Denham: At present National Institute for Clinical Excellence has not issued any guidance to medical practitioners with regard to the treatment of Parkinson's Disease. However, we are currently considering a number of possible additional topics for appraisal by NICE during the remainder of the current year and in later years. Announcements will be made in due course.
Child Abuse
Dr. Desmond Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of child abuse (a) allegations and (b) convictions there were in the five years (i) before and (ii) after the changes in court procedures following the implementation of the Children Act 1989. [127548]
Mr. Hutton: The Children Act 1989 was implemented in October 1991. However, although the Children Act 1989 changed the private and public functions of the civil law relating to the welfare of children, it did not change the criminal law in respect of offences against children.
In terms of allegations of child abuse, no statistics are available on the number of referrals to social services departments for the five-year period (1986-87 to 1990-91), prior to the implementation of the Act. However, "Child Protection: Messages from Research" (Department of Health, 1995) indicates that there are about 160,000 cases referred to social services departments per annum.
Statistics relating to convictions for offences against children, as set out in Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, are shown in the table.
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The number of persons convicted at all courts under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (Section 1), England and Wales, 1987-1996, is as follows:
| Year | Number |
|---|---|
| 1987 | 143 |
| 1988 | 164 |
| 1989 | 211 |
| 1990 | 247 |
| 1991 | 234 |
| 1992 | 208 |
| 1993 | 205 |
| 1994 | 236 |
| 1995 | 302 |
| 1996 | 293 |
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